Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 20 January 2021.
Thanks very much, and you're absolutely right, Caroline, that we must recognise that when people have a physical problem in these very difficult circumstances, there is a real possibility that there will be a spillover into a mental health problem. In particular, those who've had, frankly, a confrontation with death—there are a lot of people who've come very, very close, and that in itself is a traumatic experience. That's why we recognise that PTSD is likely to become something that we need to pay more attention to in future. Also, we need to monitor people who have left hospital. Obviously, at the moment, people are very focused on just getting people well, but there has been follow-up in local authorities just to make sure that people are on the right track.
Dementia is another point that you mentioned. I think one of the things that is clear to me is that a lot of people who are, perhaps, beginning to have an issue with dementia—we've seen that the isolation that many have felt has actually increased the speed at which that dementia has taken hold. So, that is, again, something that we need to keep an eye on, and you'll be aware that we've got a £10 million programme addressing the issue of dementia in Wales.